Government Shutdown

Democrats Demand Boehner Avert Government Shutdown Threat

Brian Beutler | November 1, 2011, 10:57AM

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and the vast majority of House Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pushing him to strip partisan policy riders out of must-pass legislation to fund the government after the money runs out later this month.

Yes, here we go again. House Republicans are advancing appropriations bills loaded with controversial measures that would defund the new health care law, scrap key environmental protections and more.

"As you know, there is longstanding precedent not to use appropriations bills to enact major changes in national policy, and the bills being reported from Appropriations subcommittees this year violate that precedent," wrote Hoyer in a letter signed by 182 other Democrats. "While not all policy riders are objectionable, many of those included this year are not only controversial but blatantly partisan. Included riders would block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, roll back important clean air and clean water protections, and place new restrictions on women's access to a full range of medical and health services, among others."

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Health Care

Freshman Republicans Continue Citing Faulty McKinsey Study on Healthcare

Igor Bobic | June 22, 2011, 3:16PM

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)

Despite the media firestorm around a much disputed McKinsey report finding that large numbers of employers would drop health care coverage under President Obama's health care reform law, it seems some Republican freshmen are still using it as a talking point.

"We learned last week that approximately 30% of employers anticipate dropping their health care coverage as a result of this [law]," said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) at a press conference with fellow freshmen Republicans on the Hill today. "So more things are coming to light showing this simply was not a good piece of legislation."

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Health Care

Luck Of The Draw? Dem-Friendly Panel To Hear Health Care Lawsuit Challenges

Brian Beutler | May 10, 2011, 10:57AM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration has lucked out in Virginia. A three-judge panel of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will hear arguments Tuesday morning from plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform law Congress passed law last year. And all three of those judges -- selected randomly by computer -- were appointed by Democratic Presidents.

The political composition of the panel is crucial -- thus far, in lower court rulings, judges appointed by Democrats have all upheld the law while Republican-appointed judges have stricken parts, or all of the law on constitutional grounds.

This was by no means a likely outcome. Though the conservative-leaning court has become more liberal since Obama took office, the odds of drawing an all-Dem panel are still quite low -- about 20 percent.

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Health Care

The Real Death Panel: If 'Obamacare' Repealed, Some Patients Can't Go Back

Brian Beutler | March 24, 2011, 3:00PM

If the health care reform law were to disappear tomorrow, Dallas Wiens would be in trouble.

Earlier this week, in a 15-hour procedure, Boston surgeons grafted a donor's face onto Wiens' skull. Weins is a 25-year-old boom lift operator from Texas who came into contact with a live electrical wire, costing him his lips, nose, and eyes and leaving him severely disfigured.

The Department of Defense covered the cost of the surgery through a grant to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where the surgery was performed -- an investment the military hopes will pay off in new surgical techniques that will benefit wounded soldiers. But all the Pentagon's largesse would have been for naught without the new health care law.

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Department of Justice

DOJ Seeks Clarification From Florida Court On Health Law Ruling

Brian Beutler | February 17, 2011, 6:24PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

The Department of Justice has asked the Florida district court that voided the health care law for some clarification.

DOJ spokeperson Tracy Schmaler says the administration wants to confirm "that the court did not intend to disrupt the many programs currently in effect, including small business tax credits, the millions of dollars in federal grants awarded to states to help with health care costs, and other ongoing consumer protections while this case is on appeal."

Depending on the court's response, the administration could still seek a stay from this court or the court of appeals.

You can read their entire motion below.

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Health Care

FreedomWorks Gives Health Care Repeal Pointers To House GOP

Brian Beutler | February 16, 2011, 1:22PM

Dick Armey, FreedomWorks chairman

In a sign that the public is tiring of GOP efforts to repeal the health care law, the Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks is pressing Republican leaders to go on the offense -- double down on the repeal push while advocating conservative health care policies.

In a memo to House Republicans, the leaders of FreedomWorks, including former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, suggest that the public is souring on repeal because the GOP lacks a coherent set of reforms with which to "replace" the health care law.

"We're sending this memo because we believe your ultimate success depends as much on how you handle the "replace" as the "repeal" side of the strategy. We think it's time to start emphasizing what you're for as much as what you're against," the memo reads.

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Health Care Implementation

Most Americans Oppose GOP Efforts To Block Health Care Funding

Jon Terbush | February 16, 2011, 12:23PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Though Americans are still deeply divided over the health care law, a clear majority disapprove of a Republican plan to choke off funding for it, according to a new CBS poll.

In the poll, 55% of respondents said they oppose the plan to block health care funding, while only 35% said they support that proposal.

Having failed in their efforts to repeal the law outright, some Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) have suggested scuttling President Obama's signature achievement through the legislature's power to appropriate funds. By blocking funding for some of the law's provisions, Congress could in effect cancel out pieces of the law without actually repealing them.

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Health Care

Tea Party Patriots Team Up With Steve King On Last Ditch Effort To Destroy 'ObamaCare'

Brian Beutler | February 14, 2011, 1:50PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

The Tea Party Patriots are backing up Iowa Republican Steve King in a last-ditch effort to sink "ObamaCare" before the end of winter. But they're running out of options.

King wants his party to be bold, and attach a measure hacking $100 billion out of the health care law to legislation that will fund the government from March 4 through the end of September. He knows the Democratic Senate and the White House won't let that fly -- but for him larger principles are at stake here, and if the government shuts down because of this fight, so be it.

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Abortion

GOP Backs Massive Tax Increase To Phase Out Abortion Coverage By Private Insurers

Brian Beutler | February 9, 2011, 8:35AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and John Boehner (R-OH)

The House GOP continues to place its heaviest emphasis on fighting abortion rights, and they've taken a lot of heat for it. Progressives, Democrats, pro-choice groups, and others have spared little criticism, but they've focused most heavily on three distinct lines: the fact that Republicans are ignoring job-creation as a priority; the fact that one of their pieces of legislation would allow hospitals to refuse to perform an abortion on a dying woman; and the fact that, until recently at least, the GOP wanted to limit tax-payer support for abortion to exclude incidences of non-forcible rape.

Here's another one: The GOP's plan to ban tax-payer money from funding abortions includes giant tax hikes for businesses.

More specifically, it would eliminate tax incentives on employer-provided health care benefits if those benefits cover abortion as a medical procedure.

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Health Care

Cantor: GOP Will Forbid White House Spending On 'ObamaCare'

Brian Beutler | February 8, 2011, 3:02PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says upcoming spending legislation will forbid the White House from using any federal dollars to pay to implement the health care law.

"I expect to see one way or the other, the product coming out of the House to speak to that and to preclude any funding to be used for [ObamaCare]," Cantor told reporters at his weekly press availability Tuesday.

Notice he refers to the "product coming out of the House." Implicit in this is an acknowledgment that the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House will fight them bitterly, and somebody will have to tap out. Indeed, it almost suggests that Cantor knows the House will be out-muscled. So it's not exactly a line in the sand -- it's more like a high opening bid, but more evidence that this will be a chronic fight between the parties.

Health Care

Virginia Agrees To Implement Key Provision In Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | February 4, 2011, 12:30PM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, (third from left), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (center), Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (third from right) and others observe a moment of silence

Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wants the Supreme Court to declare "Obamacare" unconstitutional. But in the meantime, the rest of the state's government is moving right along to get the law implemented.

By a vote of 95-3, the Virginia General Assembly agreed to develop health insurance exchanges states, which each state will be required to have by 2014 under the Affordable Care Act.

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Health Care

Yet Another Dem Alternative To The Health Law Mandate Emerges

Brian Beutler | February 3, 2011, 10:12AM

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)

Here's another change Dems are considering to the individual mandate in the health care law in the wake of Tuesday's federal court decision.

Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR) proposes that people be allowed to opt out of the insurance mandate altogether -- but if they do, they will not be allowed to free-ride on the new health care system.

Under his plan, a person opting out "must file an 'affidavit of personal responsibility' with the state exchange. Such a filing will waive their rights to: 1) Enroll in a health insurance exchange; 2) Enroll in Medicaid if otherwise made eligible; and 3) Discharge health care related debt under Chapter 7 bankruptcy law," DeFazio wrote in a letter to colleagues Tuesday.

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Ben Nelson

Nelson Rejects Backdoor GOP Plan To Kill Health Law

Brian Beutler | February 3, 2011, 9:10AM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Democrats are holding together to close backdoor efforts to kill the health care law better than the GOP would like.

They would prefer that vulnerable Democrats to join them in support of a new measure that would allow states to opt out of key provisions of the law -- a plan designed to weaken and kill it.

But at least one of those Democrats isn't biting.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) says he likes pieces of that measure -- in particular allowing states to opt out of the law's call for a Medicaid expansion. But he can't support it overall.

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Health Care

Effort To Repeal Health Care Law Fails In Senate

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2011, 6:26PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

An effort spearheaded by Republicans to repeal the new health care law collapsed Wednesday evening after the Senate refused to ignore its adverse impact on the deficit.

By a vote of 47-51, the Senate sustained an objection to the legislation on the grounds that it does not comply with congressional budget rules. Because a full repeal of the law is projected to increase the deficit, waiving that point of order would have required 60 votes.

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Health Care

Democrats Explore Alternatives To Health Insurance Mandate

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2011, 2:19PM

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Most Democrats believe, or say they believe, that the courts will uphold the individual insurance mandate as constitutional -- and slice off one prong of the GOP attack on the health care law.

But they're also exploring their options.

One plan is modeled on an existing incentive built into the Medicare prescription drug benefit: Create an open-enrollment period for people who want to buy health insurance, and assess a penalty on anybody who tries to enter the insurance market after that window closes.

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Health Care

Republicans Hide Health Care Law Benefits From Their Constituents

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2011, 10:22AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Two days after a Republican Florida federal court judge voided the entire health care law, the multi-front Republican war against it continues in the Senate, where members will vote today on whether or not to just repeal it, full stop.

Simultaneously, Republican members are trying to sneak grenades into the heart of the law, crafting modifications which they admit are meant to destroy it.

But that presents them with a conundrum when they head back to their states and districts and face constituents who stand to benefit from the law right now -- seniors who are entitled to free checkups, and young adults, who can now stay on their parents' insurance until they turn 26, for example. Republicans can chose to help those constituents navigate the law -- answer their questions constructively, encourage them to seek those benefits -- or they can let their political agendas interfere.

Different strokes for different folks.

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Health Care

Heavy Hitters Rip Florida Federal Judge's Opinion Striking Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 5:35PM

President Barack Obama

Legal experts who support President Obama's health care law spoke to reporters Monday afternoon to criticize a far-reaching opinion by Florida federal district court judge Roger Vinson that the individual insurance mandate is unconstitutional -- and that the entire law must therefore be voided.

"This is a decision that has such radical implications that I'm confident it will be overturned," said former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger.

In addition to declaring the mandate unconstitutional, Vinson declined to "sever" it from the rest of the law, and instead held that the entire law out should be thrown out. That goes far beyond standard practice, under which courts tend to defer to Congress and sever only the provisions of law that they find unconstitutional -- even if Congress didn't include a "severability clause" in the legislation.

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Health Care

Florida Judge Voids Entire Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 3:00PM

President Barack Obama

A federal district court judge in Florida ruled today that a key provision in the new health care law is unconstitutional, and that the entire law must be voided.

Roger Vinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee, agreed with the 26 state-government plaintiffs that Congress exceeded its authority by passing a law penalizing individuals who do not have health insurance.

"I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate," Vinson writes. "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void."

[Emphasis added]

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Health Care

What Do Americans Really Think Of Health Care Reform Repeal?

Jon Terbush | January 21, 2011, 8:42AM

A Tea Party protester

In reclaiming the House last November, Republicans framed their victory as a clear mandate from the American people to scrap 'Obamacare.' A cursory scan of the polling data suggests they were right, with some polls pegging support for repeal as high as 60%.

Yet a closer examination of the numbers reveals that the claim is considerably overblown.

The primary problem with polling data on the issue is that surveys tend to oversimplify the debate. Many polls present respondents with just two options: repeal the whole shebang, or do nothing at all. What those polls fail to take into account is the fact that some parts of the law are widely popular, while others are disliked, and still others are unknown or misunderstood.

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Health Care

White House Steps Up Defense Of Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 9:12AM

Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

With the GOP-controlled House of Representatives set to vote to repeal health care reform this week, the Obama administration is intensifying a public campaign to reframe the fight over the law: making it one in which Republicans are villains, trying to rescind benefits the Affordable Care Act provides people. One of those benefits is a ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing health conditions.

A report from the Department of Health and Human Services, published today, concludes that between 50 and 129 million Americans have pre-existing medical conditions, depending on the definition of the term. About 50 million Americans have pre-existing conditions as defined by state-run high-risk pools before the new health care law passed, according to the study. Likewise, a full 129 million have pre-existing conditions as defined by private health insurance companies.

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Health Care

Major Health Care Reforms Take Effect January 1

Brian Beutler | December 31, 2010, 11:39AM

President Barack Obama

Starting Saturday, two of the new health care law's most significant reforms take effect -- or at least begin to take effect.

The first will dramatically clamp down on insurance industry waste, abuse, and excesses. Starting on New Year's Day, insurance companies will have to spend at least 80 percent of the revenues they receive from premiums on actual health care. Not on salaries or overhead.

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Health Care

GOP Turns To K Street Veterans To Help Unravel Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | December 27, 2010, 2:53PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) with members of the GOP leadership

House Republicans are turning to old friends on K Street to lead their legislative attempts to repeal the new health care law.

Three recently hired Republican aides -- two set to work in senior positions on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, and one for soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner -- spent the past years lobbying on behalf of insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and other corporate interest groups with a vested interest in weakening or repealing the law.

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John Boehner

House GOP: Cut Gov't Spending By 20 Percent Despite Economic Impact

Brian Beutler | December 20, 2010, 11:39AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Boehner (R-OH), and Eric Cantor (R-VA)

This week, Congress is expected to continue funding the government at current levels through early March -- at which point a newly Republican House of Representatives will get to take an axe to the federal budget. Naturally, they're promising dramatic cuts in non-defense spending.

"I don't know what's going to happen here today, or tomorrow, or Sunday in terms of how we keep the government funded," said soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner at his weekly press conference last week. "But what I can tell you is all you have to do is go to the Pledge to America and we outline pretty... clearly that we believe that spending at '08 levels is more than sufficient to run the government."

Cuts at that level would have an impact on more than departmental budgets.

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Health Care

Top Dem: GOP 'Dangerous To America's Health'

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2010, 11:14AM

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)

Here's a more political health care report, put together by the office of Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA).

This one's more of a playbook for Democrats, who in 2011 and 2012 will be batting back GOP efforts to repeal the health care reform law. For months now, Democrats have noted that full repeal of the health law will eliminate popular provisions like the ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.

Stark's report goes into greater depth, bullet pointing for the law's supporters the key reforms that will be repealed if the Republicans get their way.

Among the less well-known consequences of repeal, according to Stark:

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Health Care

After Court Ruling, Virginia Health Secretary Gives Reform The Thumbs Up

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2010, 9:46AM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, (third from left), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (center), Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (third from right) and others observe a moment of silence

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is still taking victory laps (and raising money) after posing the first successful court challenge to the new health care reform law. But just one day after the verdict came down, a state panel appointed by his own governor, Bob McDonnell found that "health reform is worth doing" and urged swift implementation of the bill, even as legal challenges against it proceed.

Buried deep within the report is a caveat about the importance of the insurance mandate, which Cuccinelli is fighting on Constitutional grounds.

"[T]he insurance reforms scheduled to go into effect in 2014 - especially guaranteed issue (insurers must sell to all comers) and modified community rating (no differential rating by health status) - would make adverse selection a much greater risk if there is no mandate or if the mandate is ineffectual," a draft of the report reads. "Given the lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate, as well as the controversy over the weak mandate penalty if it does remain in place, the likelihood of national reform legislation changing between now and 2014 is relatively high."

The panel is chaired by Virginia's Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel, whom McDonnell appointed earlier this year. I guess that means Virginia's official position on health care reform is that it's an unconstitutional threat to our liberty, but if the courts don't throw out our Quixotic court challenge, by God, we'll take it! Sic Semper Tyrranis.

[H/T: Kaiser Health News]

Health Care

Amateur Hour: VA Judge Makes Elementary Error In Health Care Ruling

Brian Beutler | December 14, 2010, 10:25AM

Federal judge Henry Hudson at a court in Richmond, Va., 2010.

The Virginia federal district court judge who ruled yesterday that the individual mandate in the health care bill is unconstitutional is catching a lot of flack -- and not just for having a financial interest in an anti-health care reform consulting firm.

Legal experts are attacking Judge Henry Hudson's decision on the merits, citing an elementary logical flaw at the heart of his opinion. And that has conservative scholars -- even ones sympathetic to the idea that the mandate is unconstitutional -- prepared to see Hudson's decision thrown out.

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Health Care Implementation

Poll: Support For Health Care Law Remains Low

Jon Terbush | December 14, 2010, 8:30AM

President Barack Obama

Support for the health care overhaul slipped lower in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday -- the same day a federal judge ruled that a key provision of the law was unconstitutional.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they supported the health care legislation, compared to 53% who said they were opposed. Support is down from a high of 48%, recorded in November 2009. Those results are in line with most other polls taken in the last few months.

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Health Care

The Courts Divided: How Health Care Lawsuits Have Exposed A Partisan Judiciary

Brian Beutler | December 6, 2010, 2:07PM

When the health care law passed earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans had already been bickering for months over one of the central provisions of the legislation: the individual mandate. Can Congress, under the Constitution's commerce clause, compel people to purchase health insurance? The fight was just one of many health care-related disagreements that have divided conservatives and liberals since the issue took center stage, but it's the one major aspect of the new policy that gave Republicans an opening to take the Affordable Care Act to court.

Normally, a lawsuit challenging the scope of Congress' power under the commerce clause would be open and shut -- it's been a perennial loser for plaintiffs going back decades. But in that time, the court has moved to the right, and become more partisan. And the early rulings in these health care lawsuits indicate what Republicans knew all too well -- that Republican-appointed judges will be as sympathetic to their arguments as Democrat-appointed judges will be opposed. And that could presage several major victories for conservative foes of the health care law as their challenges make their way toward the Republican-leaning Supreme Court.

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Health Care

An Error By Dems May Allow The Lawsuit Against Health Care Reform To Succeed

Brian Beutler | November 30, 2010, 8:44AM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, (third from left), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (center), Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (third from right) and others observe a moment of silence

Conservative foes of the Affordable Care Act want the federal courts to smother the new health care law in its crib. They've argued that Democrats failed to erect the proper safeguards to protect the legislation from being stricken down entirely by the courts. And when a Virginia district court judge rules in the coming days on the Constitutionality of the law's insurance mandate, he'll also have to decide whether none, some, or all of the law must go with it.

The obscure term of art here is "severability".

Quite often, legislators include what's known as a "severability clause" in their bills. These are meant to protect the bulk of a law in the event that a small portion of it is determined to be unconstitutional. That small portion must go, or be changed, but pretty much everything else is allowed to stand.

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Scott Brown

Silver Bullet: Can Scott Brown And Ron Wyden Save Health Care Reform?

Brian Beutler | November 22, 2010, 4:17PM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

A new bipartisan proposal that would allow innovative states to basically drop out of the health care law could help ease conservative opposition to the plan, even as the number of Republicans who have joined various lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate has swelled in recent months.

New legislation, introduced last week by Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) would make a simple tweak to the law: It would allow the states to implement their own health care systems, and thus be exempt from most of the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The catch: Those programs would have to cover, with decent insurance, at least as many people as the health care law does, but without adding to the deficit.

The law technically already provides this exception -- but as currently written, states can only begin opting out in 2017. This new Wyden/Brown proposal would kick that date forward to 2014.

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Andy Harris

Progressives Target 'Dude, Where's My Health Care' GOPer (AUDIO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 22, 2010, 12:38PM

A progressive group is launching a multi-pronged attack on Rep.-elect Andy Harris, the freshly-elected Republican physician from Maryland who made headlines last week when he, essentially, asked Congressional staffers why he has to wait 28 days for his government health care.

Harris, who like many Republicans this year ran on repealing the landmark health care law signed by President Obama, is the subject of ridicule in a new radio ad being broadcast across his Maryland district by the progressive group Americans United for Change.

"What was the first thing Andy Harris did when he got to Washington?," the ad's narrator says. "Harris complained that he wasn't getting HIS new government-provided health care fast enough."

"Say what?" the narrator adds.

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2010 elections

Freshman GOPer: Hey, Where's My Health Care?

Josh Marshall | November 15, 2010, 11:14PM

Maryland physician Andy Harris (R) just soundly defeated Frank Kratovil, one of the most endangered Democrats on Capitol Hill going into the November election. And he did it in large part by railing against 'Obamacare' and pledging to repeal Health Care Reform. But when he showed on Capitol Hill today for an orientation for incoming members of Congress and their staffs, he had a different question: Where's my government health care?

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Health Care

Joe Barton: Health Care Repeal Is My Alamo

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 10, 2010, 3:54PM

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) is ready for war. He told an audience today that he doesn't shy away from a fight, even a tough one like repealing the health care reform law passed in March.

"One of my heroes is a guy named Davy Crockett," Barton said this morning. Crockett and the rest of the doomed defenders of the Alamo "fought a fight that most people thought was hopeless," Barton added, saying that because they did, Texas eventually became the state it is today.

"One of Crockett's sayings is 'be sure you're right, then go ahead," Barton said, turning to the health care law. "The right thing to do is repeal this bill...and we're gonna do it."

War on Obamacare wasn't the only one Barton declared before an audience at the Heritage Foundation today.

The ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the men vying to be the next chair of the powerful panel when Republicans take over the House next year, Barton laid out his plan for, essentially, undoing most of what President Obama and Democrats accomplished in the past two years. He laid out the central fronts: the battle to repeal what he calls Obamacare, the fight against the EPA, backing the growing insurgency opposed to net neutrality regulations, taking on "environmental radicalism" and -- of course -- defending the "traditional, incandescent light bulb" against government regulators who want to replace it with what Barton called "the little, squiggly, pig-tailed ones."

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Newt Gingrich

Gingrich 'Looking Very Closely' At Petition Drive For Health Care Repeal (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | November 9, 2010, 11:45AM

During an interview last night on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) floated a possible plan to mobilize around health care repeal in the 2012 campaign cycle.

"At American Solutions we're looking very closely at launching petition drives in every state that has a Democrat up for reelection in 2012," said Gingrich, further listing states with key Senate seats up for election in two years: "You start looking at Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Florida, Virginia. There are a lot of states out there where you have an absolute majority in favor of repealing Obamacare.

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Mitch McConnell

McConnell: Defeat Obama With Repeated Attacks On Health Care

Brian Beutler | November 4, 2010, 9:50AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

For the next two years, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tries to make Barack Obama a one-term president, he and his counterparts in the House will force repeated votes on repealing and starving the White House's signature accomplishments.

At a Heritage Foundation speech later this morning, McConnell will reiterate his desire to see Obama unseated in 2012, and will pull back the veil on the next two years, which are poised to be mired in political theatrics and policy gridlock.

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Health Care

State Official Orders Insurance Company To Sell Insurance To Children

Brian Beutler | October 15, 2010, 5:10PM

Washington's insurance commissioner stepped in today to force Regent Blue Shield -- the state's largest provider of insurance to children -- to keep selling children-only health care plans.

"Regence is in clear violation of state law that prohibits insurers from denying insurance to people on the basis of age," reads a statement from Mike Kreidler. "I was shocked and deeply disappointed when Regence announced its decision last week to stop selling insurance to kids."

One of the earliest-implemented -- and most popular -- provisions of the new health care law forbids insurance companies from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. Rebelling against the policy, insurance companies have threatened or attempted to stop selling children-only plans. New Hampshire's insurance commissioner likewise stepped in to block the maneuver.

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Health Care

Health Care Judge Skeptical Of Obama's 'Unprecedented' Law

Brian Beutler | October 15, 2010, 9:15AM

President Barack Obama

Yesterday, a District Court judge in Florida ruled that a lawsuit filed by 20 states and other plaintiffs can proceed. The development represents decidedly mixed news for the Obama administration and supporters of the health care law. The good news is that the judge -- Reagan appointee Roger Vinson -- threw out four of the plaintiffs' six complaints. The bad news is that he will hear the weightiest of their contentions -- that the individual mandate exceeds Congress' power to regulate under the Commerce Clause. And according to one of the foremost experts on the health care lawsuits, the ruling indicates that the judge is sympathetic to the plaintiffs.

"On the Commerce Clause argument he suggested it was going to take a lot to convince him that the government is right," says Professor Timothy Jost of Washington and Lee University. "They're going to really have to come up with something because [at least in the judge's mind] the law is pretty clear on that."

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Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi Elaborates On The Risks Of GOP House Takeover

Brian Beutler | October 13, 2010, 5:30PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

In unusually stark terms this afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged that Republicans would be able to do serious damage to Democratic accomplishments if they retake the House in November.

"We think so much is at stake," she said during a conference call with bloggers and reporters this afternoon. "While they can not overturn health care, they can deprive it of funding. Same thing with Wall Street reform and the rest."

In the past, Pelosi has highlighted key Republican goals -- repealing health care reform and wall street reform legislation chief among them -- to attack the GOP. Typically, though, she declines to explain what Republicans could accomplish if John Boehner becomes Speaker, and insists that the Democrats will not lose the House.

"If the Republicans were to win they would defund Wall Street reform, health care as a right not a privilege in our country. The list would be a long one of things that they could hold up. They couldn't necessarily repeal with President Obama in office. But they could defund. And that's important for members to mention," she acknowledged.

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Health Care

TPM's Guide To The Major Health Care Reform Lawsuits

Brian Beutler | October 12, 2010, 8:39AM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the Virginia state seal

At the end of last week, a U.S. district court judge in Detroit issued the first ruling on the merits of health care reform, finding that one of the law's key provisions -- the insurance mandate -- meets constitutional muster.

The news heartened the law's supporters and the Obama administration, which will have to defend the law in a number of cases including -- most famously, in a federal challenge brought by nearly two dozen states across the country. The constitutional challenges to the health care reform law fall generally into two categories. In the first, states claim that their own laws trump the federal law -- an argument that legal experts consider to be almost a sure loser. The second argument is that the insurance mandate exceeds the power given to Congress in the Commerce Clause. That argument is less radical than the first, but is rooted in contemporary conservative legal philosophy that courts have occasionally validated in recent years, albeit under limited circumstances.

The wheels of justice are turning in several cases already, and it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Here are the basics.

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Health Care

Federal Judge Rejects Challenge To Key Elements Of Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | October 7, 2010, 5:32PM

President Barack Obama

The first federal court ruling on the Constitutionality of the health care law is bad news for those trying to repeal it.

In Detroit today, U.S. District Court Judge George Steeh refused to issue a preliminary injunction to delay implementing the law in the state. He also dismissed the key contention of the bill's conservative opponents: that a mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance is unconstitutional.

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